Fifteen inmates of Lucknow district jail — including five Pakistan nationals — have accused the deputy jailor of trying to incite communal hatred among the inmates and promote enmity on the basis of caste, religion and nation.

In the letter dated June 3 and addressed to the Lucknow Jail superintendent, the inmates, all lodged in high-security barrack of the jail, have alleged the deputy jailor, Keshav Prasad Yadav, made caste, religion and nation specific remarks.

In May-end, quoting another inmate, they alleged that Yadav told an inmate that someone among them had requested that Pakistanis be segregated.

Denying any such request, they claim that the statement was made by Yadav to promote enmity among them. They further alleged that Yadav on June 2 called up two of of the inmates from a block and, pointing towards Tariq Qasmi of another block, told the two inmates that he has complained to the Superintendent that inmates of other block are kept free while he is kept locked. The inmates again claim that this isn’t true and this was another attempt towards promoting enmity among the inmates.

In the letter, they have requested the superintendent to intervene in the situation. Jail superintendent Dadhi Ram, meanwhile, said he is not aware of any such matter as he has been out of station for sometime. “I will look into the matter upon my return,” he said.

On April 10 this year, a local Lucknow court had sentenced Pakistan national Taseen Azim alias Lareb Khan, who was arrested on charges of spying in the state capital in 2006, to eight years imprisonment. Then, on April 14, another Pakistan national Abdul Jabbar,60, was sentenced to six years of jail on charges of spying; he was arrested in 2008. Mohammad Abid and Mirza Rashid Baig, both from Pakistan, were arrested in Lucknow in 2007. Imran is an accused in the 2008 Rampur CRPF camp attacks.

Also among the complainants is Tariq Qasmi regarding whom the state government had moved an application to withdraw two cases against him in Gorakhpur and Barabanki but it was stayed by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.